Friday, March 1, 2013

MARCH MADNESS IS HERE! #WIPMADNESS

If you’ve been looking for a challenge to get your writing in gear,
you’ve come to the right place! Through the month of March we will be
cheering each other on to meet challenging goals with our writing.

Also, this year we've decided to open up the challenge to Readers, Bloggers, and Illustrators. Basically, anyone who wants to challenge themselves regarding books and win prizes for it!

Today is goal-setting day!

(But
if you don't make it here on the first day, not to worry. Feel free to
add your writing goals here any time during the month of March).

March Madness officially begins tomorrow, and this is how it will work.

1. Set a goal here (anything writing,
reading, blogging, or otherwise book related). It can be as small and
simple of a goal as turning off your Internet while you write during
the month of March. Or it can be as large as writing or revising an
entire book.

2. Check in daily through the month of March at our designated
check-in points. Let us know how you're doing with your goal. Share
your victories and struggles. Encourage others. The key is support and
camaraderie.

3. We give you prizes just for stopping by and letting us know how you're doing, and for encouraging others!

Sounds easy and fun, right?! The following will be the check-in points
for the month of March. We plan to have check-in posts up and running by
9AM PST (noon EST) each day.

TEAM HUMAN by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees BrennanNECROMANCING THE STONE by Lish McBrideTIME BETWEEN US by Tamara Ireland StoneFATHOMLESS by Jackson Pearce SHADOWS ON THE MOON by Zoe MarriottCITY OF LOST SOULS by Cassandra ClareTHRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas SPARK/STORM by Brigid KammererINSIGNIA by S.J. KincaidOUTPOST by Ann AgguireBooks courtesy of Denise Jaden (US mailing only):HOW I LOST YOU (SIGNED ARC!) by Janet Gurtler SEVER (ARC) by Lauren DeStefanoRUSH (ARC) by Eve SilverYOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO (ARC) by Bonnie ShimkoIN TOO DEEP (ARC) by Coert VoorheesBROTHER, BROTHER (ARC) by Clay CarmichaelRIPTIDE (ARC) by Lindsey ScheibeALSO KNOWN AS... (ARC) by Robin BenwayLOVE IN THE TIME OF GLOBAL WARMING (ARC) by Francesca Lia BlockFOREVERMORE (ARC) by Cindy Miles

Isn’t that quite the ARSENAL of prizes?! Wow, thank you all!!

AND…thank also to Kelsey Macke, we have a fabulous badge for this year’s
event. It’s on the sidebar and also below, so go ahead and post it
somewhere proudly and link it back to this post.

I'm going to be perfectly honest about what happened with me during last March Madness. I re-wrote (from scratch) my WIP novel, FINDING HOPE. Yes, the
entire thing. It was planned to be a companion novel to LOSING FAITH, but by about the third week in, I hated it--couldn't stand the plot or the characters or anything about it. I took a few deep breaths, talked to a few really wonderfully motivating writer-friends (thanks, #wipmadness!) and decided to push through. I forced myself to write the book until it at least had an ending. Then I told myself I could put it away and never look at the stupid thing again.

I'm telling you this so that if you get stuck, or if you find yourself waking up one day and despising this goal project you started...you're not alone. Definitely not.

There is a happy ending to this story, however! It took me eleven months, but I decided to go back and read FINDING HOPE last month, just to see how horrible it was. It turned out...I loved it! It needed lots of work still, of course, but I could see with such clear eyes how to fix it and move forward and actually make this book into something someone may one day want to read!

As for this year's goal, just out of pure craziness, I'm starting another companion novel, which will tell a secondary character's story from FINDING HOPE. I don't have much of an outline for it, but I plan to push through and finish a first draft by the end of March.

How about you? What are your goals for this March? Have you done this challenge with us before, and if so, how has it worked out for you? I'd love to hear!

Don't forget to leave your goal(s) in the comments below, and head on over to Kim Baccelia's Blog tomorrow
for your first check-in! Remember, the more you check-in and encourage
others, the better chance you have of winning some great prizes! And if you set your goal within the next twenty-four hours below, you have a good chance at winning one right away!

148 comments:

Yay, Denise! I am so glad that you keep running this each year--you are an inspiration! I love your story about FINDING HOPE!

I only have the first half of the month this year, because I leave for Spain on 3/17, but that makes my goal even more important to complete the next revision round on my WIP before I go. I look forward to pushing through on it with all of you.

I came across your challenge via Shari Green this morning, and I'm glad that I did! It is coming at just the right time given that I'm trying to get myself back into the habit of daily writing. With that in mind, my goal for the month will be to write, at least, 5 out of 7 days.

I just looked back at what I did for March Madness 2012 and guess what? Last year I revised my humorous MG boy book. This year I'm revising that same book, except this time it's with my editor because it's going to be published in July. ^_^ WOOHOO! Madness! I have one week to get these edits sent, so between now and March 8th I'll be deep in green gas. After the air clears, I'm going to finish revising the first draft of a long-neglected contemporary YA. At the end of the month I want to be able to send it to some of you lovely beta readers.

I'm thrilled to have you with us, Joli! It's so great to have some variety in goals and I loved reading about your blogging goals. I can't wait to read your review for LIVE THROUGH THIS (I think Mindi will be joining The Madness this year too!)

In 2012, I finished my novel and sent it to my agent, who (not-so-promptly) sent it back with serious revision notes. Over the next few months I hacked off the first 6 chapters, re-imagined the beginning as well as some major plot points and revised the heck out of that puppy. Finally it has come back with some positive results, but I might be changing the POV.

The long and short of it is, I want to get it ready for final submission. So, here are my goals.

1. Prepare TBDT for submission (even if I have to change the POV for the entire thing).2. Get into chapter 3 (at least) of the new WIP.3. Keep my sanity...but embrace the MADNESS!

Some of this depends upon how quickly my agent responds to the new chapters...

Ahh, the frustratingly slow pace of publishing. Yes, I know it well, Mary Ann. We must put that out of our minds this month or we may move from a mad state to a depressive one! All the very best in getting a polished version out into the world and then *relaxing breath* starting on something new!

I love how you can always find what you are looking for on the internet!

I write short stories for submission and smaller fiction on my website, but have been side-tracked the last three months by a host of personal problems, which I will not get into.

I simply want to begin to writing again. To remind myself why I wake up an hour earlier on a weekday or carve time from my weekend. To give myself back that pleasure.

My goal for March is to write every day, alternating betweena) a fiction or non-fiction blog post,b) a revision on a short story with April submission date,c) a new short story that has been bubbling in my mind for while, andd) reading and editing a friend's piece

I am very happy to find a like-minded community here, simply by typing "March Madness for Writing" into a search engine.

1) Start and finish a draft for a novel.2) Read eight books.3) Create a blog centered around my writing/reading life.

I homeschool my 4-year-old and 7-year-old, so these goals will require some late nights and early mornings for me. I might have a fighting chance, if I could just get around the sluggishness when it comes to my OTHER work.

Also, to not obsess so much about editing as I go. Because, let's face it, that ends up being a lot of wasted time and energy when you get to the end and realize you have to change pretty much everything anyway.

Not obsessing about editing - yeah, good luck with that. LOL, I'm speaking to myself here. It's a good word. And you have a good, strong goal. 250 words times 31 days is... 7750 words! Awesome (and yes, I needed a calculator to figure that out!) Glad you're joining us, Linda!

I wrote my goal first and then went on to read all the others. I really love yours, feel like maybe I should add it to mine... I am always going back and reading, re-reading, reading again. I AGREE! Stop obsessing!

Sometimes I find telling myself to forget what I have already written. By that I mean to write without looking back. That helps with my editing. I attempt to set time goals. Like "I will go back and re-read after I have finished 3 more chapters" or "6 more chapters". I really try hard to force myself to just keep the words flowing without going back to read every half hour (I am really bad for that!)

I hope you find your way to keep yourself from worrying about editing, every one has their own. I also may add this to the goals-inside-my-head (because I'll admit it is a hard thing to conquer and I have not quite yet).

Also I love your goal for 250 words a day!! I am new to this and that goal in itself is inspirational to me. I can't wait to hear about how your goals go throughout the month!

This will be my 2nd year to participate in March Madness. Last year, I got some serious work done on my YA historical, which is yet to be re-drafted, but hey, I wrote The End last year during March. Let's just say, it's simmering.

This year's goal: Drafting my new wip, a middle grade novel. I've spent the better part of the last two weeks outlining and devising a plan. I've also ran the idea by my agent, who's made a few suggestions I'm considering.

My plan is to use daily time goals vs. word count goals. I'm hoping this alleviates unneeded pressure on myself.

What a wonderful story about FINDING HOPE, Denise. Thanks for sharing your experience and success!

As I mentioned before, don't know how much I can participate this month. Why? Because I'm expecting edits from my EDITOR on the first draft of the WIP that I finished last March Madness. In the year between last March Madness and this - I lost an agent, gained a new agent, and sold last year's book in a 2-bk deal to Harper Teen.

#wipmadness works!

This March? Finishing up what I hope will be book 2, it's out with final readers, before sending to my agent. And waiting on that edit letter for Sing to the Wind.

I LOVE hearing these success stories! So we have at least two novels being published that were written during last year's March Madness! Huge congrats on your book deal--I love HarperTeen books, so I'm sure I'll love yours! All the best with getting through the edits and getting that second book written!

I'd forgotten about this - thanks to Shari for posting on facebook. I'm starting to run a Thursday morning 'just write' meetup group, which is a great way to hang out with writers and get words on the page.My March goals are to finish illustrations and editing for a short non-fiction e-book (and get it up on Kindle in early April) and to finish a first draft scriptfor a short graphic novel.Didja see that word - short? That's how this is getting done, in small steps.

It's so nice to find another familiar name among our group of crazed writers... familiar from W-A-Y back! :) Best of luck with meeting your goals. We'll look forward to hearing of your progress. I'll bet your new meetup group will be a help in keeping you focused on the writing.

I think I only sort of participated in March Madness last year, but I'd like to take part again this year!

My goal is pretty simple: I just want to write anything. I've kind of lost my way lately, and I'd like to fix that. So, yes. If I finish the month having accomplished any writing whatsoever, I'll consider that a win.

(Sorry if this ended up double-posting. The whole commenting with a WordPress ID thing always messes me up.)

I just posted this quote in a reply on another comment but after reading this comment I felt that it fit in just as well! (plus I am sort of crazy in love with it)

Jane Yolen said "Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up."

It seems your goals are right there with this same idea, and I agree with Shari Green SOME is better then none, and yes! you may feel that getting it going is all you need to keep it going!

So happy for March Madness again! My goal is to finish the first draft of my rewrite - this is about the 4th time I've tackled it, but this time around I'm actually excited about it, so I must be doing something right (I hope).

I'm a first-timer, and I found my way here from the Vancouver Other Eleven Months facebook group.

My goals are threefold: 1) finish a short story I've been working on for the last couple weeks, 2) revise the first 30,000 words of a YA historical I've been working on for the last nine months or so. I'm changing the POV and the setting (which means more research), but I'm confident it will make the novel more readable and lead to a resolution for some plotting issues in the novel's last quarter. And 3) I want to write (not research, not reread) a minimum of ten hours a week.

I love your goals! I am particularly in love with # 3, to write! My mother just recently acquainted me with a quote that I absolutely fell in love with.

Jane Yolen said "Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up."

I am happy to hear I am not the only new-to-march-madness one here! Very exciting to be apart of this!

Sending all my good luck vibes to you and your goals this month! And I must say a Historical YA sounds extremely wonderful to me, I have a small obsession with anything having to do with history :-)

Hi March Madness Peeps! I’m extra excited this time around, because I have The Call scheduled on Monday with a super amazing agent. YIPPPPEEEEEE! (I have been querying since the first March Madness, I believe.) So my goals might change after I talk to her, because if she’s asking for revisions, that’ll become my A#1 priority. But otherwise, I am soooo close to finishing a first draft of my current WIP– so that’s my goal in the next week. Once that’s finished, it needs to simmer, so the rest of the month is going to be devoted to research and planning my shiny new idea. I suppose outline by the end of the month is a good goal? Looking forward to it with you all.

(Technical note: When I try to sign in with my Google account, it calls me Unknown - any i idea how to get around that?)

I love this! I have 2 different projects I want to get to certain points on. Here's the steps I want to complete during March Madness:

Project #1 (MG)

1. Finish final revision2. SUBMIT to agents!

Project #2 (YA)

1. Rework my outline with the brilliant changes that just came to me2. Revise chapter one and use it to apply to a great workshop opportunity3. Get to 25,000 words in draft #1 (I'm at about 9,000 right now)

I'm setting a time goal rather than a word goal this year: write ten hours per week on my new MG project. I'm so excited to get started on this, and I hope to get far into the story during March. Dare I dream for a complete first draft? ;)

LOL, okay okay! If the hosts aren't completely mad, how can we expect the rest of the participants to go for it? ;) A first draft it is! Go me! (Ignoring the "but I don't write MG" voice and planning to have fun with it.)

That's a worthwhile goal. No matter how many words those ten hours produce they're bound to get you launched into the story... maybe even get that first draft roughed in. And you mustn't listen to that genre-sneering voice. I don't write for kids of *any* age, and yet I did once, remember? ;)

What a great opportunity. This will be my first year participating. I'm a YA writer repped by Pooja Menon of Kimberley Cameron and Assoc. While finding myself between revisions of my MS, I've taken on a ghost-writing project that I'd like to make serious progress on this month. I'm turning a couple's family memoirs into a novel for them. So far, I'm 8 pages in, and I'd like to add at least another 15,000 - 20,000 words in this month.

Here I am. I'm going kicking and screaming into this year's March Madness because I haven't been able to give my writing the attention it needs in January or February, and I can't imagine March will be any easier. But making it a priority will help. I'm on the run this morning so will return tonight to catch up on everyone's comments and record my goals. For now, have a great writing day, Wipsters!!

That's good positive thinking, thanks, Denise. I've decided I need to set goals that I know are realistic and doable given where I'm at right now. I've had three fellow writers' requests on hold for a few weeks. I'll commit to fulfilling them this month, and to set a fresh goal when the last is accomplished. (1.) Write the guest post promised for one; (2.) Read new release and write review for one; (3.) Read new release and prepare blog interview for one.Hopefully by that time I'll be getting anxious to jump back into my own WIP.

I'm in! I'm keeping it simple - complete the R&R on my MG that is waiting to go back out to some wonderful agents. - storyboard a PB that's been simmering and brewing on my sketchbook pages for the last few weeks.

And that is all. I'm going to focus on craft rather than speed this month. Good luck fellow WIPers!

Reading all the goals and success stories made me wonder what the heck I set as a goal during last year's madness. Just checked and one of my goals was to finish a synopsis + 50 pages to submit. Well, the following month that goal turned into a book deal which has consumed me ever since. Since my third version of that manuscript is with my editor until at least the 15th, this year's goal is to finish revising another WIP that I started in 2006 and finally submit it to my agent.

I only have a short-term goal right now: to cut another 2k from my YA fantasy Otherselves (for a total of 10 k). Hoping to finish that next week. We're in the middle of moving--boxes, boxes everywhere--and I can't focus more than a few days ahead right now.

I'm new to this so I'm just hoping to get the bulk of this story written. I have 17K and I've been working on it since last October. I need to take it seriously, along with my commitment to it and writing. I considered quitting writing altogether several times this last month but I may as well try to quit breathing. Or reading. So this came at a good time for me. I want to get this as close to 50K+ as possible and then send it out to a beta or two. Thanks for having me.

Glad you're here! Sometimes pushing through and getting the main story out in a short amount of time will actually help you figure out some stuff about it. That's how it always works for me--it bypasses my conscious brain or something. All the best with your 50k!

This is the time to put aside the nagging inner voice that wants every word to be perfect, and as Denise says, push through to actually finish the first draft. You can always revise afterwards. Welcome to the the group!

I'm new to this so I'm just hoping to get the bulk of this story written. I have 17K and I've been working on it since last October. I need to take it seriously, along with my commitment to it and writing. I considered quitting writing altogether several times this last month but I may as well try to quit breathing. Or reading. So this came at a good time for me. I want to get this as close to 50K+ as possible and then send it out to a beta or two. Thanks for having me.

Sliding in late. I've watched you guys from the sidelines and figured it was high time I join the fun.

I'm a little over halfway through doing around of revision based on notes from my agent. My goal is to be finished by mid month. What I'm focusing on is doing the strongest work I can at the fastest pace--aka not worrying about my blog and keeping online time to a minimum.

The second half of the month is going to involve being prepared to focus on what ever my agents wants me to do--or on going back and starting revision on my very rough WIP.

look what happens when you miss ONE DAY! OKAY. Here's my goal for the month off May: REVISE. My ms FIND ME just came back from two beta readers and there's a plethora of good (and a little disturbing) advice to absorb. I'm giving myself a week to do that, then - starting the second week of March jumping in with revisions. I'm lucky in that I have a pretty solid idea (already) of some flaws that need fixin. I'm hoping that by April I'll be able to submit the very polished and ready ms to my agent. I know that's shooting high time wise, but that's my goal. Good luck everyone!

1. With my writing partner, Jenn B; complete a rough draft of our screenplay. The hope is to have a rough draft by month’s end, revise in April, and submit to a few contests by May 1st.

2. Examine TV pilot ideas and see if anything worth pursuing. Depending on my writing partner’s time and energy, we may tackle one together and try to submit a pilot script to a few contests by June 1. I figure we can use March as to prewrite and then start a draft in April. That way we aren’t in the same stage of two projects at once and can broaden our scope.

3. Create and maintain a master document including notes, research, and other information for the screenplay and possible TV pilot. Once I find a template that works, I plan to apply it to all other works in progress. I tend to get a little carried away with folders, subfolders, and sub sub folders.

4. Design a writing schedule for the rest of the year including daily, weekly, monthly and so on goals and deadlines. And implement said plan. I even have a special planner for keeping myself accountable.

5. Work on other writing. I have a long neglected novel to give some way overdue tender loving care to. I also should work on another TV spec, but I’m waiting for the network upfronts so I know if the shows I’m considering writing for will be renewed.

6. Remember to enjoy writing and not allow myself to be overwhelmed by deadlines.

7. Read, blog, and exercise. I mean a writer has to do something besides write, right?

It sounds like you have some serious research underway, and are doing lots of preplanning. Dive in now and enjoy getting immersed in the actual writing. It's the only way to achieve your goal #6. Go for it!! :)

Seems like you have a lot of goals to work towards, which is actually inspirational in and of its own. I love that you have so many goals for ONE month, you are braver than I.

I agree #6 is a must must must!! And #5! Get working on that novel!

Working on writing something else, like your novel, might actually help with your other goals. Get your mind on something else to free yourself of the constant thinking over other things. To be able to go back to other goals, mind new. Like taking a nice mental break from one goal to work on another, and continuing the cycle. They all seem like such wonderful goals. I am very excited to keep up with how progress goes throughout this month.

I am late, very late with posting my goals this year, so I will piggyback on your post. I will add my goals at today's check-in. I just wanted to add that I think your goals are awesome, and remember, just because you don't meet them all, doesn't mean you didn't succeed! Yes, we WILL finish the rough draft!

Here I am coming in late, but here nonetheless! This will be my first attempt at march madness, a first of many I have started in the past year. I am currently working on my very first draft of my very first YA novel (first novel at all actually). At just over 11000 words my yet-to-be-title novel is just a new born baby. I thought hard about what my goals should be for my first venture here and although I landed on a no-so-OUT-THERE goal I feel like it is a good start. I think that the fear of failure still has a tight grip on me so I thought I would start off small. I have decided on two goals. One geared towards my blog The Dissocial Mom and the other towards my new born novel.

Goal #1 Between the months Jan and Feb I was able to write just over 10000 words on my work in progress and for this month I have decided to double the amount of words and cut in half the time. My goal is to write 20000 words during the course of this month! This would put me nearly mid way into my novel as my end goal is 70000!

Goal #2 I would like to kick the bad habit of waiting last minute to write up a post for The Dissocial Mom. No more speed writing the day before (or even two days before) to break it off with procrastination. My hope is that by dropping my bad habit I may be able to pick up a new and better one that will continue on after march has passed.

So there it is! I am both excited and scared to be joining march madness this year, but I decided to take the leap! I can not wait to read and hear everyone's goals, ideas, support and inspiration and to help motivate and get motivated!! This should be a very exciting month!

Welcome into the wild and wonderful Madness, Becky! I like both your goals. An aspiring novelist's first priority needs to be getting the story written, so you're obviously on the right track with goal #1. As for goal #2... Wordpress has the option to 'Schedule' posts to appear on any specified date. Maybe you can manage to get a few posts ahead and use the feature to give yourself some slack during extra busy times??? I know... it's easier said than done.

Best of luck as you wade into March's writing waters.

(I just posted this as a separate comment instead of a reply. Ackkk!!! It must be past my bedtime! Delete, delete!)

Well hey there daughter of mine! So very glad you joined up. This is an incredibly supportive group of writers, readers and bloggers. And---yep--me too on the late. Best part is you can sign up, join in, anytime. Good luck! Feel free to kick your mother's butt every now and then :P

I'm dealing with tendinitis this March, but count me in! I have two goals that I'm working on... The first is to edit a scene a week from my character history novel. The second is to finish my planning for the second Shifting Mists novel, so that I can be ready to start writing in April. The third, is to not destroy my hands, doing the first. Easy goals? Perhaps... the main issue is the third. Doing the work without hurting myself is a very important skill to learn, but I think this month will finally help me get the hang of it.

Last year was my first time with March Madness and it was a great experience. I finished the year with first drafts for an alternate history thriller screenplay (Script Frenzy), an MG Adventure (Camp NaNo), and a YA Thriller (NaNo). I even wrote my first Paranormal short story based on a dream.

Since December I've been taking workshops to hone my craft, have networked more in the writing community and my writing has improved since the last time I posted here. I think March Madness was the catalyst that help boost my writing confidence so I thank you all for that.

As of this weekend, I'm officially published. Two of my flash humor pieces got an honorable mention and were published on the host's blog. YAY!

Okay, goals.

1) Revise those drafts, polish, polish, polish, and shop.

2) I've taken an interest in short stories and flash fiction, so I'll be trying a hand there to get my feet wetter in the industry.

3) Be more attentive to important events such as this. Household is fighting a flu relapse and it's a challenge to write through the haze sometimes--or check all emails.

4) Continue to build a social media presence. I've learned so much by connecting with fellow writers and those in the industry. My writing has advanced because of such connections.

5) Remember to keep an inner peace amidst all the chaos of RL and appreciate the fact that, as a writer, I'm in a better place today than I was 365 days ago.

I'm jumping in a few days late, but I love the March Madness idea. I've been lagging behind my yearly goals because of some personal stuff going on, so I think this is just what I need to get myself back on track. Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish:

1. Finish first chapter rewrite for my WIP, Shadows & Light. 2. Brainstorm 100 new scene ideas for S&L.3. Plot out and revise emotional arc and romance arc for S&L. (Your grief book is helping me a lot with some of this by the way, Denise. Thanks!)

Thanks for hosting. I hope to be around as much as possible to cheer everyone else on too.

I just discovered this and I am so glad I did, it's a brilliant idea. Sometimes, it's nice to be part of a community that helps keep you accountable for getting work done. My goal for this March are:

1) Complete the detailed outline for my WIP2) Write at least 2k words every day3) Begin the first draft of said WIP

They're humble goals but I've burned myself before by setting goals that were overly ambitious and when I failed to meet them, I felt like I had let myself down no matter how much I had actually accomplished. So, this March, I'm setting perfectly reasonable goals so when I exceed them, I can let myself bask.

I'm definitely the overachiever who habitually bites off more than she can chew so they seem humble to me! Thanks again for organizing this, I feel like it's exactly the kick in the pants I needed right now.

I am super late to starting, but only because I am not really sure what my goals are anymore. It depends on several factors (the main one being if I figure out how to fix an issue I'm stuck on in my revisions). So:

1) Finish revisions of Book (contingent on figuring out how to solve an outstanding issue).Alternate 1) If I cannot fix revisions, outline new book.2) If I finish outline, write as much as possible in new book.

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